


A perfectly normal day with Paradox and Tails

by stagemanager



Series: Paradox AU [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Awkwardness, Brotherly Bonding, Family, Fluff, Fusion, Gen, Humor, Paradox AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24706852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stagemanager/pseuds/stagemanager
Summary: (Takes place in between Chapter 4 and 5 ofA Problem of Paradoxical Proportions.)During a simple errand, Paradox and Tails discover one of the fusion's new powers. Hilarity ensues.
Series: Paradox AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799200
Comments: 19
Kudos: 163





	A perfectly normal day with Paradox and Tails

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tharkflark1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tharkflark1/gifts).



“Remind me what we’re doing here?” Paradox inquires, voice reverberating off the walls of the cave. His green pupils scan the area, uncertainty evident on his countenance.

Tails doesn’t look at him, attention still locked onto his scanner. “You forgot already? I _just_ told you.”

“I…” Paradox fumbles. A hand drifts upward, playing with the mess of thick quills on his head. “Um…”

At the hedgehog’s continued floundering, his younger brother finally turns around. Why is he so confused? He’d told him less than ten minutes ago what they were doing, and yeah, Sonic zones out sometimes but he _seriously_ couldn’t have forgotten that al—

_Oh._

Guilt immediately materializes on the kit’s face.

“Dox, I am so _sorry_ about that. That was… I should have… I _know_ that you have a hard time remembering things and I can’t _believe_ I just said that. Gosh, how could I be so _insensitive?”_

“Tails, it’s okay,” Paradox responds quietly. His posture suddenly tenses, eyes seeming to glaze over before blinking rapidly. Three colors flash in his pupils before green manages to hold steady. The fusion exhales, dropping his hand. “Let’s just… move on, okay? Why are we here again?”

It’s a clumsy attempt to change the subject, but both parties overlook it. Kind of like how they’re both trying to overlook other things. Drawing in a breath, Tails lifts the device in his hand. 

“My jewel radar picked up the energy signature of one of the emeralds here.”

Paradox’s face lights up in understanding. _“Oh!_ To see if it can undo, uh…” he points to himself, _“This,_ right?”

Tails gives a soft smile before turning away from his brother. “Exactly. It should be nearby, the radar says it’s somewhere in this— _WOAH!”_

His eyes focused on a screen, Tails doesn’t hear the ground cracking beneath his feet. In an instant, the earth gives way, sending the fox plummeting down in an avalanche of rock. Caught completely off-guard, the only response that his panicked mind manages is a yell. Reality slams to a halt as yellow fur disappears below the edge of the just-formed chasm. 

_“TAILS!”_ Three voices scream, reaching towards the falling child. _Run—catch—use your—just save him!_ Hands slam down on the control console at the same exact moment, the pedestal glowing red, blue, yellow, and white. _Save him, save him, SAVE HIM!_ It isn’t until Tails is safe that time resumes.

 _“Are you okay?!”_ Paradox quickly inquires, scanning the kit for any injuries. _None, thank Chaos, he’s okay, we did it._ The fox rubs his head, attempting to re-orient himself. 

“...Yeah, yeah,” Tails replies. “Just got a little surprised is…”

The kit trails off, his face abruptly twisting into an expression of pure, unadulterated bewilderment. He gapes, mouth flapping up and down but with no words escaping. Blue irises are tiny dots amidst a sea of white, unable to look away from the sight before him.

A blue ear flops over. “Tails? What… _Why_ are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

Paradox’s question manages to slice through the fog plaguing his brother’s mind. The fox sharply tears his gaze away, his two large ears slicking back. He heaves air into his lungs, forcing his uncooperative vocal cords into motion. Tails bites his lip as he tries to string together the nicest, least stress-inducing way to phrase this. 

“Can you, um… Can you just… _look_ at me, _please?”_ The request arcs in a lovely high note at the end, and twin tails twitch anxiously.

If you were to listen extremely closely at this exact moment, you might be able to hear the sound of a dial-up modem starting up. 

“Aren’t I…” Paradox blinks, “I thought I was already doing that…?”

_“Please just do it, Paradox.”_

Despite his clear confusion, the fusion complies with the instruction. He stares at the fox, growing more and more puzzled by the second. 

"Um, why are we doing this?"

"Because Tails said so!"

"This is ridiculous."

An eye twitches. 

“So is there something I’m supposed to see or…?”

Tails drags a hand across his face. He sighs before pressing his palms together in front of his chest.

“Do you _notice anything?”_ The kit presses, sounding about five times his age. _“Anything at ALL?”_

_“Nope.”_

The sound of a palm hitting a forehead followed by muffled frustrations fills the air. Blue ears flatten, nearly flush with the side of a head. Tails inhales loudly. 

“What am I _sitting_ on, Paradox?” The fox shoves out. His brother’s eyes blink once before narrowing in concentration, his focus shifting down. Down and down from yellow fur to white fabric to gold metal to blue fur. A very _familiar_ shade of blue fur.

Paradox’s breath hitches in his throat as his gaze snaps back to his brother. 

_“Tails…”_ he starts, voice quivering and not at all cracking, _nope, absolutely not, no sir._ “How did I…”

Before the hedgehog can finish his question, something suddenly brushes against his arms. Immediately, he becomes aware of a weight around his midsection. A rock or something maybe?

Slowly, Paradox looks down. His focus lands on his arms, strangely larger—"Guys, can we please stop thinking about THAT?!"—but still obviously his. Two gloved hands with rings around the wrists that fade into blue fur. Except that, rather than connecting to his shoulders as all known laws of anatomy say, they instead connect to his waist. Below where his other set of arms is.

For one, endless second, nobody utters a word. And then, at a vocal pitch that most teenage choir boys could only dream of hitting, Paradox lets out a shrill screech. He recoils back in a panic, momentarily forgetting two very important things. One: he is _much_ taller now. Two: those arms are _attached_ to us, _idiot!_ The fusion’s terrified shriek switches into a yelp of pain as his head collides with one of the chasm’s walls. Dust and rock fragments rain down as two hands instinctively reach up to soothe the pain.

 _Two_ right hands. 

"Silver, _calm down!_ Shadow, _get a grip, dude!"_

"We have _four_ arms! FOUR!"

"Yes, I’m well _aware_ of that, Shadow, I _too_ pay attention in class!"

_"How are you so calm about this?!"_

"This isn’t this first time something like this has happened to me. I mean, I woke up once and found that I turned into a wolf."

"...I’m sorry, _WHAT?!"_

Paradox forces air into his chest, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. _“OKAY! Okay! We’re fine! I’m FINE!”_ He declares, gesturing to himself with his free hands. 

All three of them. 

_ "Silver, I swear if you—" _

_ "I'm good, this is good, mm-hmm!" _

With an internal sigh, Paradox’s attention returns sharply to Tails. The fox has finally extricated his hands from his ears, grimace subsiding slightly. Somewhere, three hedgehogs are attacked with an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. Sonic clears his throat, trying to salvage what’s left of their dignity. Since it seems that fate has deemed it prudent to entrust _him_ with the brain cell today.

“So, um…” Paradox begins, looking down at his brother. His _little_ brother.

A cough. 

“Right, so do you…” the fusion pauses, uncertainty decorating his face again. He pauses, heartbeat speeding up again. “Tails? You’re making me nervous again…”

At the mention of his nickname, the kit visibly flinches. The action does absolute wonders for Sonic’s—and by extension—Paradox’s fragile grip on reality right now. Realizing his mistake, Tails immediately gives a tense grin.

“Wh-What are you talking about?” 

“You’re making that _face_ again! Why are you making that… _Oh no.”_

The tiniest of chills snakes down the fox’s back. 

“There’s something else, isn’t there?”

In less than a millisecond, Tails’s hands shoot up, grin stretching comically wide. _“What?_ No. _NO.”_

 _“Miles, PLEASE.”_ Paradox begs, panic flooding his tone again. His lower set of limbs grab at each other fitfully, as if they don’t know how they should fit together.

Tails swallows. “I… “ he begins, surveying his brother’s pleading expression. He looks like a kicked puppy, and honestly he might as well be. The kit sighs heavily. “...Promise me that you won’t freak out again.”

Paradox blinks back at the child before letting out a sharp, breathless chuckle. “Wh-When have I ever done that, Tails?”

“Less than five minutes ago.”

The fusion simply sputters.

“Just… _don’t,_ okay? This cave is already unstable, and your screaming will unsettle the rock even more. Not to mention your added weight.”

_“Excuse me?!”_

"That’s it, the fox is going to—"

"Shadow, _relax!"_

“You’re three times your normal height. It’s only logical that your weight would have tripled as well. Now, do you want me to tell you or not?” 

Paradox nods. The movement is stiff and clearly forced, but Tails knows that it’s the best he’s going to get right now. 

“Close your eyes.”

_“...Why?”_

_“Just do it!”_ Tails shouts, patience worn thin. Once they get out of here, he’s going to drop his brother off at Cream's house and not come back for a week. 

Shocked by the kit’s volume, Paradox swiftly obeys the command. He frowns a moment later, confusion re-surging in full force. Just to make sure, he brushes a hand against his face to check that his eyes are definitely closed. Which they _are,_ as his probe reveals. And yet, for some odd reason, he can still see just fine.

 _“Miles…”_ Paradox inquires calmly. _Calmly._ The absolute pinnacle of peace and serenity. “Why can I still see when my eyes are closed?”

Tails forces another breath in. “You have four eyes, Paradox.”

There’s a beat of silence as the kit’s statement sits in the air. A set of four stares at the yellow fox, expression unchanged.

“Anything else?” The giant hedgehog asks, voice kept masterfully neutral. Inner peace, inner peace.

Tails squirms in place. “Um… You don’t have any pupils anymore. And your eyes are glowing white. All four of them.”

Paradox nods his head repeatedly, a squeak escaping his lips. It sounds like a balloon deflating. His ears are still flat against his skull, quills bristling.

Another beat.

“You’re trying not to freak out, aren’t you?”

 _“Aaaaaah, I'm not freaking out, are you freaking out because I am just the picture of peace right now, look at me, mm-hmm. I’m just trying to wrap my head around this and we have four eyes and four arms, what is happening?! Silver, you need to breathe! You need to calm—I’m stressed, I’m STRESSED, what is—Sonic, you better have a fuc—why are you both dumping this on ME, WE HAVE THE SAME BRAIN AND—_ **_OW!”_ **

One of Paradox’s hands reflexively flies up to his muzzle, rubbing the impacted area. The projectile lands with a clatter on the ground. Paradox instantly throws a four-eyed glare at his brother.

_“You threw your radar at me!”_

_“You wouldn’t shut up!”_

_“Three people are freaking out, do you expect it to be QUIET?!”_

_“You promised that you weren’t gonna freak out!”_

_“Well, I lied okay!”_

_“You shouldn’t lie to your brother!”_

_“Well, you shouldn’t throw things at your brother!”_

_“Fine!”_

_“FINE!”_

The two family members each let out a huff, glancing away sharply. Tails folds his arms and sulks in the middle of a hand, while his much bigger brother plops down, slumping against the chasm wall. The fusion crosses his lower set of arms in frustration. 

_“Furball!”_

_“Pincushion!”_

_“Pixelbrain!”_

_“Starfish!”_

Another silence ensues. The two boys huff in anger as the quiet stretches on. And on. And on and on until gradually, two sets of eyes connect. And their next words overlap.

_“I’m sorry.”_

At once, the duo blink in surprise. They look at each other for a moment before their mouths twist up into grins. Paradox and Tails break out into laughter, a warm, happy, sincere song shared by two brothers. When the giggles fade out, the smiles still remain on their faces.

“Okay,” the younger of the two says, a new lightness to his voice. “So we have to still find that emerald. It should— _Oh no!”_

“What, what is it?”

“I threw my radar at you!”

“Uh, _yeah_ you did.”

“That isn’t _—Argh!”_

Spinning his namesakes, Tails alights from his brother’s hand, and flies down to the bottom of the chasm. Just as he thought, the device is shattered into pieces on the ground, its internal components scattered about. The fox collects the broken fragments into his hands, ears flopping over.

“I’m so stupid! Now we’ll _never_ find the emerald!” 

Seeing his brother continuing to berate himself, Paradox scoops Tails up in one of his hands, eliciting a small gasp from the fox. Reaching up, the hedgehog gently places the child down on the edge of the chasm. “I may have a bad memory, but I _think_ you said the emerald was nearby, right? So we should still be able to find it.”

“But what if it’s buried somewhere and we can’t see it? And this cave is really unstable and could collapse!”

Somewhere, green eyes suddenly swivel over to red quills.

_"No."_

"It’s our best option! If we leave, someone else might find the emerald and then we’ll be even more screwed!"

"What are you guys talking about?"

“What if I used my powers to ‘sense’ out the emerald?” Paradox suggests, after a moment. “Like what your radar was doing. It’s just a matter of feeling the chaos energy, right?”

Tails taps at his chin. “I don’t know, Dox. The emeralds don’t really… _like_ you, remember? It might not end well.”

"Even he knows this is a bad idea."

"Okay, would you just be positive for _once_ in your life?"

"Guys, Tails is _saying_ something."

Blinking back into reality, Paradox sees his younger brother gazing up at him, wearing a patient and understanding expression. There’s the smallest hint of weariness mixed in. 

“Do you want me to repeat what I said?”

The lightest shade of pink dusts Paradox’s muzzle. “Yes, please.”

Tails smiles warmly. “If one of you individually reaches out with your own chaos energy, the emeralds might not react negatively. But it can only be one of you.” 

"See, I was right!"

"Shut up, Faker."

"He’s still _talking,_ guys!"

“...And since he has the most experience with this kind of thing, I’d say that Shadow should do it. Sorry, Sonic and Silver.”

Somewhere in the distance, a blue hedgehog falls to his knees, a hand over his chest. Next to him, a black and red hedgehog smirks proudly as a lighter-colored hedgehog simply sighs.

"Betrayed by my own brother… How _could_ you, Miles?"

"Sonic, this isn’t really that serious. He’s just being practical."

"Quiet, Silver, I’m being dramatic."

With an irritated groan, Shadow turns away from the other two and closes his eyes. On the other side of the glass, Paradox does the same. The Ultimate Life Form draws in a breath, searching inside himself for the well of chaos within him. Red energy pulses at his touch, flaring and crackling like flames. Carefully, Shadow draws out an ember. With the energy glowing on his fingers, he lowers his hands towards the still-illuminated control console. But as soon as his fingers connect with the button, he is repelled by a powerful force. 

Three voices let out yelps of pain as they are pushed back. At the same time, Paradox stumbles back with a grunt, all four of his hands rushing to grip his head.

 _“Paradox!”_ Tails shouts. The cave shakes around him, all this movement aggravating its fragile construction. Taking flight, the kit darts over in front of his brother’s face and waves his arms frantically. When the fusion finally looks at him, there’s a pained grimace on his face.

_“...Tails?”_

_“Are you okay?! All THREE of you?”_

Paradox nods, hands dropping from his head. Tails gives a sigh of relief. “What was that?” he asks, after giving his brother a chance to recompose himself. 

Blue ears flop down. “We don’t know. But it looks like that plan of yours isn’t going to work. Sorry.”

Tails shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he replies, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

The older of the two siblings smiles, warmth fluttering in his chest. His gaze drifts towards the cave ceiling and he sits back down, letting his lower set of arms balance atop his knees. “So… Any more bright ideas?”

"What if we—"

_"NO!"_

Remembering a certain habit from a friend, Tails hovers over to his brother’s head and descends onto his crown. “We could go home and deal with this tomorrow after I fix my radar.” 

Paradox gives a small chuckle. “That’s a good plan. Except there’s just one problem with it…” 

“What?”

The fusion glances up to his little brother, perched upon his forehead. There’s a sheepish grin on the hedgehog’s face as he reaches up to fiddle with his quills again, muzzle now tinted a beautiful rose color. “I don't know how to change back. And I won’t be able to fit through the entrance.”

* * *

Tails comes to a stop. And then he decides to take one more for good measure. He glances ahead. 

_“Okay!”_ the fox shouts into the cave’s entrance. “Do you wanna try crawling or maybe pushing apart the—“

Before Tails can finish, a loud crash interrupts him. The kit flinches back as smoke fills the air. Still blinking and sputtering, he looks back up as the dust clears. Immediately, surprise floods his face. Paradox stands in front of him, fragments of rock dusting his shoulders. 

Tails gapes. “Wh-What did…? Did you _teleport?”_

Paradox gestures behind himself to the newly-expanded entrance of the cave. “No. I just walked through.”

Blue eyes blink once. Then twice. And then Tails throws his arms up in the air, pivoting on his heels. “Let’s just go home now.”

“I thought we were already—“

 _“C’mon,_ Paradox!”

With a huff, Tails stomps away from the cave. His much bigger, but ever clumsy brother follows obediently behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Paradox was created by and belongs to TharkFlark1. This drabble was inspired by a comic by SmallPwbbles. Check it out here and as well as the rest of her awesome tumblr!  
> https://smallpwbbles.tumblr.com/post/620659987323240448/has-paradox-ever-freaked-tails-out-with-something
> 
> She also drew the lovely picture of Tails and chaos mode Paradox (that's the official name for his multi-armed form) just chilling.
> 
> As always, shoutout to the Pocket Hog discord!
> 
> UPDATE: Now including a post-credit scene! Based on this comic: https://smallpwbbles.tumblr.com/post/621196193164345344/all-im-imagining-is-tails-standing-a-good


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